This page: What really are the symptoms
of FIV? - text books list general symptoms that apply to many
conditions - find out what really to expect for an FIV cat

More about FIV - Symptoms

What are the
symptoms of FIV?

Well, none really!

Most problems and illnesses that cats suffer are diagnosed from their
symptoms. This is true whether it be from an external influence like a
virus or other infection, or from an internal disorder such as organ
function decline, ie kidney, liver, pancreas, heart - they all have
recognisable symptoms that initially alert the owner and vet to the
problem. All these are relatively straight forward, because the
symptoms will always be there for any given ailment - it is the way
vets work; they assess all the symptoms, and possibly do some further
tests to confirm or isolate the precise cause, then they will know
what they need to treat.

One would think, therefore, that when a cat becomes infected with the
FIV virus, there would be definite and distinct symptoms to identify
it; but there simply aren't any such symptoms.

One might ask then, how and why is FIV diagnosed if there are no clear
symptoms? Well, the virus is known to attach itself to parts of
the immune system, so, if it appears that the immune system may not be
working efficiently, and not responding to medications as
expected, often the first thing done is to test for FIV.

There are symptoms that are often quoted by vets and scientists as
common in FIV cats (mouth issues; digestive/diarrhea problems, poor
appetite/weight loss, general infections) but these are all very
general in nature and also common in uninfected cats. The health
history of our sanctuary cats indicate they are not common
symptoms observed in our FIV cats. Also the results
of the 1000 FIV cats study show similar results of no specific
symptoms.

Clearly, there are no specific symptoms for FIV simply becuse the
virus does not have any real affect on the cat until many years later,
after the virus has had time to develop sufficiently to reduce the
immune system to such an extent that they start to suffer from general
immune suppressed issues.

There can be many other causes of a poor immune system, but FIV is the
easy one to test for, so it is often the first port of call when a vet
is a little baffled. Sadly, if the test proves positive, then the vet
may quickly jump to the conclusion that the FIV is the cause of the
problems. FIV often will get the blame - quite wrongly!

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Clearly, if having FIV had such a bad
effect on a cat, then every cat with FIV would be suffering in the
same way and present with recognisable symptoms. The fact that they
don't, and that many FIV cats never do, must indicate the
non-seriousness of the virus.